Friday, 27 September 2013

Breach

Last year, almost to the day, the Trent and Mersey canal breached,

and poured water down the hillside.

The T&M was closed for a long time while they fixed it, and several boaters were caught, unable to move. Among them were Peter and Elaine on NB Maple, who happened to be moored up at the spot today when we stopped to take some photos.

It was good to chat with you, guys. Sorry that the photo shows so little of the boat, but the better photos are from the other end, where your washing was hanging up to dry. I decided you wouldn't thank me for leaving an everlasting pictorial record of it on the internet!

Peter and Elaine followed us through the Saltersford and Barnton tunnels.

These are the first we've encountered which are a bit twisty in the middle. The bends play intriguing tricks with the visuals of steering through a tunnel, and you certainly have to concentrate. I wonder whether the engineers or navvies had broached some other liquid as they tackled the task. We didn't spot any geological reason for the serpentine arrangement, and the technology for creating a straight tunnel was definitely available at the time.

So we came past the Anderton Boat Lift and back onto ground we've covered before. In the light of comments on yesterday's post from Mo and Bruce we wanted to give the engine a chance to put some serious charge into the batteries, but in the end we shortened the day by an hour and tied up near Marston, behind The Wool Boat. We found Colin and Caroline as they were on their way out to the Salt Barge for food, so chatted with them briefly about boaty things and knitting!

Here's the view from our side hatch this evening.

And here are some more things to consider when feeling stressed!

They were sitting just alongside the breach, and no doubt their parents observed it all happening.